Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 16

St. Mary's KOA Campground

St. Mary's, Georgia

February 15, 2024    

Magellan's Flagship Trinidad on his voyage of circumnavigation (replica) in St. Augustine.

Marc-  Today we went South to St. Augustine, Florida to meet up with Jay and Sandy.  It was a superb visit of the old port town punctuated with a great lunch at River and Fort Restaurant and dinner at Pizzalley.  We enjoyed a lunchtime view of Castillo San Marco and the harbor.  We were entertained at dinner by an excellent vocalist / guitarist hippie with an earring.  At other times we wandered about town seeing various sights including a copy of Magellan's flagship (this is a Spanish town after all) and many shops, galleries and some old hotels.

Flager College (Ex Flagler Hotel).

Flagler built Presbyterian church.

Bridge of Lions opening to allow a Schooner to pass.

St. George Street shopping.

This sign made me hungry.

The gang.

An original Dali.

Sue-  I bought my first ever "jelly roll" (of fabric) yesterday at the Scrappy Rooster Quilt shop, and today I unrolled it.  We saw a pretty table runner at shop, and I got the jelly roll to make that.  Maybe some day we'll stay at our campsite all day and I can sew some of it up, though I have about 40 or more sailboat blocks to make for the sailboat quilt we bought in VA... so which do I do first, or can I work on both at the same time?  I think the latter.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 15

St. Mary's KOA Campground

St. Mary's, Georgia

February 14, 2024   

Our friend Michael Gilmartin comes to visit.

Marc-  Michael is traveling home from Tucson to NJ and stopped to visit us. Michael was our buddy boater on his 27-foot Ranger Tug when we sailed from Vermont to the Florida Keys in 2020-2021 and stopped in this area.  There are good memories of visiting Cumberland Island by boat.  We took him over to visit St. Marys.  We hit all the good spots - the ice cream parlor, tourist shop, book store, new town marina, National Park Museum, National Park Visitor's Center, the Submarine Museum and the Waterfront Park.  It was a nice day to walk around the town. (There are 2 nuclear sub bases in the US - here in St. Mary's, and in Washington State).

Waterfront Park fountain with crows coming for a drink.

Mural inside the National Park Museum depicting Timucua natives when Europeans first arrived in the area in the 16th century.  

US soldier from the war of 1812 period.  USRR stands for U.S. Rifle Regiment

19th Century carriages.

Mercury statue from the Carnegie Estate on Cumberland Island.

Three dimensional quilt (it is an illusion) at the Scrappy Rooster Quilts in Kingsland, GA.

Sue- Here is my review of Scrappy Rooster Quilts.  It was nothing to look at from the outside (common with quilt shops, from what I've seen) but it was great inside.  The manager is Dan, and he is from Bridgewater, MA.   

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 14

St. Mary's KOA Campground

St. Mary's, Georgia

February 13, 2024  

Jay, Sandy and Cody came to visit!

Marc-  The in-laws came to visit today and joined us on a visit to nearby Jekyll Island.  We all drove up in Big Blue to visit Georgia's coolest State Park:  Jekyll Island.  This former exclusive resort of Americas financial elites became a State Park for all to enjoy.  This place is welcoming and has fantastic beaches, "cottages" (we call them mansions) of the aforementioned elites, gardens, great bike/walking paths, shops, great EVERYTHING.  We even found a good frozen yogurt shop.

The famous Jekyll Island Clubhouse, now a hotel.  

One of many of the Club "Cottages".

Large car carrier ship entering Saint Simon's Sound.

View of Brunswick bridge from Jekyll Island.

Camellias

Driftwood Beach

Jay and Cody climbing a tree.

Roots on the beach.

Pre-Valentines day hug.

Cute couple eh!

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 13

 St. Mary's KOA Campground

St. Mary's, Georgia

February 12, 2024 

Today's destination.

Marc-  We had an early start today to get to the ferry dock in downtown St. Mary's at 08:00 near the National Park Visitor's Center.  We did not miss the boat and the crossing was calm with warm and sunny weather.  Our Guide greeted us at the Island dock.  The day long tour involved visiting the above named locations on Cumberland Island with a tour guide explaining all the sights and all the wildlife we met on the way (bobcat, raccoon, numerous wild horses, wild turkeys, and armadillos).  Most of the horses were seen on the road and one decided to lay down and roll over several times in the road before moving on.  Our guide also described the 4 white deer (called piebald, they're not albino) that live on the Island  (unfortunately we did not see any).   Most of the deer are white tailed deer.  The northernmost stop was the First African Baptist Church where John and Caroline Kennedy were married (the perfect spot to avoid paparazzi).  She described the secrecy involved in getting the family guests out to the Island (they thought they were just going to a party) and then how the bride and groom were left at the church following the ceremony without a ride after everyone else went to the local inn for the reception.  The newlyweds ended up getting a ride from the Park Service trash truck to the hotel.

Our next stop was Plum Orchard, a thirty room mansion constructed by Lucy Carnegie in 1898 for her son George and his wife Margaret.  Lucy lived in another Carnegie mansion at the Southern end of the Island.  Unfortunately Lucy's castle was burned by a poacher who was caught killing Carnegie animals.  Much of the tour involved how the Carnegie family transferred 95% of the Island to the National Park Service thereby preserving a great place.

White deer of Cumberland Island

Our first horse encounter.  He wanted to play chicken but eventually moved on.

Local Inhabitants

A 500 year old live oak tree.

Another horse.

Armadillo

First African Baptist Church (a.k.a. - the Kennedy Wedding Chapel).

Plum Orchard

Current home to National Park Volunteers.

Entry lobby.

Formal dining.

Living Room.

Cool Furniture.

Upstairs hallway.

Kids room at the end of that long hallway.

Plum Orchard swimming pool and squash court.

A National Park Ranger gave us a lecture at the end of the day about the native people who once inhabited the Island and how they lived.  The most remarkable fact was that most of the Timucua men were 7 feet tall and the women were 6-1/2 feet tall at a time when Europeans were 5 feet tall.  She also described how the Europeans came and colonized the area.

The Cumberland Ferry.